


The calm after the storm

by Miss_Kitten



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mild Angst, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 23:48:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6728257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Kitten/pseuds/Miss_Kitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky wakes up from a nightmare but the reader is there to comfort him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The calm after the storm

The bed shakes as your boyfriend twitches and tosses in his sleep, strangled growls escaping past his lips. It is not the first time and surely not the last, and you know exactly why it is happening.

Another nightmare.

Abruptly, Bucky sits up, his breath quickened, his chest heaving. His eyes are opened wide, yet when he turns them to look at you, you are certain he doesn’t see you. He’s still deep into his dream, affected by it and evidently terrified.

You sit up as well and gently put your hand on his shoulder.

“Bucky?”

His metal arm catches your wrist, but you don’t flinch. His touch is cold, but you know he needs to feel your presence physically to be sure you are really here.

“Y/N,” he breaths out, his voice shaking, “I thought…” he loosens his grip on your wrist and you shift closer to him.

“It was just a dream, James, it wasn’t real,” you assure him, your voice soft and soothing, and only when you look at him more carefully, you see how pale his face is, that his forehead glistens with sweat, that his hair is dump.

“They took you,” he whispers miserably, gazing into your eyes with such torment that your heart stops beating for a moment, “they took you from me, they locked you away and I-I couldn’t do a damn thing, Y/N,” his voice trails off and you open your arms to let him know you are here to console him.

He clings to you, wrapping his arms tightly around your middle as if you can disappear any minute, as if ‘they’ can really take you away from him.

You envelop him as he rests his head in the crook of your neck. You feel him tremble, you hear his breath coming out in a shallow, short puffs and you do what you always do when Bucky wakes up from a nightmare.

Slowly, gingerly you begin to stroke his hair, running your fingers through his messy locks, whispering words that may seem meaningless but for him they mean everything.

“I’m here, Bucky, I’m not going anywhere,” you murmur, placing a kiss on his temple and you notice that his breathing evens, “no one will ever take me from you, I promise. It was a dream, just a dream.”

“I thought I lost you,” a muffled, weak whimper reaches you ears and you kiss his hair.

“Shhh, I’m here with you, I won’t leave you,” you assure once again, continuing your caress and Bucky, minute by minute, seems to be calming down. You are giving him what he needs, assurance, comfort and understanding.

By now, you have learnt how to deal with his nightmares, but at the beginning of your relationship you were more scared of them that he was. Steve warned you, admitting that sometimes he is having them as well, but Bucky’s were frightening beyond imagination.

He never describes what he was seeing, but you can guess. Loosing you is the main topic, but you are aware he is dreaming of his time in Hydra’s lab, of the years that were taken from him, of the painful process of remembering his past and coping with what he has done.

You were there and you witnessed his every struggle. And, unnoticed by any of you, your bond blossomed into love, a feeling that was never truly voiced between the two of you, only shown. You know Bucky needs more time and you are ready to give it to him, supporting him all the while and assuring that you are by his side no matter what. He had enough of hardship in his life, and pressing him into verbalizing his feelings won’t get you anywhere.

Patience is the key.

And now as you feel Bucky relaxes, the tension in his body vanishing, grasp on your flesh loosening, you are glad that you managed to help him again, that you are everything he needs at that very moment.

“You okay?” you ask softly, brushing a strand of hair from his face when he tilts his head to look at you.

Bucky nods, squeezing a crooked smile.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not now, Y/N,” he pants, pursing his lips slightly and you cradle his cheek, caressing it with your thumb.

“Whenever you’re ready,” you murmur and Bucky nuzzles into your hand, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. You give him some time to settle down further, not wanting to force anything on him. He needs it, he needs time to get used to have you around him, to help and to support him and he will tell you about what he is dreaming about, you are sure, only not now.

He opens his eyes after a longer while, pressing his lips briefly to your palm. Then, you motion for him to lay down and so he does, resting on his side, tensing a little while you lay behind him, wrapping your arm around Bucky’s torso. He reaches out for your hand and laces his fingers with yours and that makes you smile. This is good.

You brush your lips against his shoulder blade and then neck, feeling how his body becomes less and less tensed. There is, however, one more way to help him fall back asleep.

“ _[S](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DP4T3tMkjRig&t=YmI2ZGY1NDgzY2UwMjcxYTU5MThhMzY2NzBkNzg0Nzk2NWZlMDIxYSxtT2tzTDBSaQ%3D%3D)tars shining bright above you_ ,” you start quietly, in a voice a bit louder than a whisper, “ _night breezes seem to whisper ‘I love you’_ ”

You can swear that Bucky mouthed those three words along with you, but you won’t show that you noticed it. You don’t need him to say how he feels aloud, he shows it every day and that’s enough for you. When time comes, he will tell you. For now, however, you are more than happy to hold him in your arms and feel that he trusts you.

And this is good, too.


End file.
